BASF economic development

The Indicators. The representation of a multiplicity of individual results from the actual lifecycle assessment is frequently opaque and difficult to interpret. To improve the interpretation of results, BASF has developed a method that combines the ecological and economic parameters, plotting them as a single point in a coordinate system. 

In the 1980s cost and availabiUty of acetylene have made it an unattractive raw material for acrylate manufacture as compared to propylene, which has been readily available at attractive cost (see Acetylene-DERIVED chemicals). As a consequence, essentially all commercial units based on acetylene, with the exception of BASF s plant at Ludwigshafen, have been shut down. AH new capacity recendy brought on stream or announced for constmction uses the propylene route. Rohm and Haas Co. has developed an alternative method based on aLkoxycarbonylation of ethylene, but has not commercialized it because of the more favorable economics of the propylene route. 

BASF activities have shown that one can make money by investigating gas-phase reactions for process development. If Degussa and Krupp-Uhde have built a very large micro reactor with outer dimensions of more than 1 m, obviously there must be an economic reason for that. 

A useful example of sustainable design comes from BASF, and their development of the eco-efficiency tool. This tool seeks to integrate the combined aspects of each of the three pillars in an attempt to quantify the most sustainable products and illustrates some of the concerns associated with evaluating sustainable products. For example, the economic analysis includes a total cost of ownership that goes beyond the purchase price of a product to incorporate the cost of operation, the cost of environmental health and safety, and the cost of labour. Thus, even though a product may have a lower purchase price, it may be more expensive to use and thus costlier over the total life cycle of the product. 

Economics. Comparison of the material and energy balance for our process and the cobalt-based BASF higher olefin process (8), we foimd that our process reduced the capital investment required by over 50% due to the fact that we require far fewer unit operations, and because the operating pressure is much lower. In sutmnary, the thermomorphic solution developed by TDA allows easy catalyst recycle, which, when coupled with the lower pressure operation possible with Rh catalysts (compared to the cobalt-based process) lowers both capital and operating costs for current oxidation (oxo) plants of similar capacity. 

The BASF process1026 was developed to use o-xylene exclusively. Most processes, however, such as the Wacker-von Hey den process1027 1028 are capable of operating on both feedstocks or may use a mixture of the two compounds. Fluidized-bed operations were developed in the 1960s (Badger process1029 1030) but have been replaced by improved, more economical fixed-bed processes. The Alusuisse low-air-ratio (LAR) process, for instance, allows the use of a 9.5 1 air o-xylene mixture and achieves an increased catalyst productivity.1031 1032... 

The spectrum of BASF s activities in China ranges beyond economic considerations it is also supporting environmental and social projects, the two other pillars of sustainable development, in the country. 

Malaysia [33-36]. Because of the country s economic problems, the future of the Malaysian chemical industry is uncertain. Investment may be curtailed because of pessimism over the economy. The Malaysian Industrial Development Association (MIDA) has stated that petrochemicals is one of the country s key industries. Joint ventures between Petronas (the state oil and gas company) and Union Carbide, BP Chemicals, and BASF are projected for the early 2000s and beyond. The chemicals of interest are ethylene, ethylene oxide, ethylene glycol, acetic acid, alcohols, and plasticizers. Large multinationals like ExxonMobil, and Shell have preferred Singapore to Malaysia. MIDA has long-term plans (10-15 years) to develop the upstream sector first, and the downstream sectors and specialty chemicals later. Even though economic problems are present, 27 new CPI projects were on hold or under way in early 1999[13]. 

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